The Kitchen Floor
"Fair maiden, I am in need of your help." The high, tinny sound of my altered voice was silly, yet I knew it would be effective.
The bundle of blankets shifted before me, candy pink curls sliding across the pillow as she revealed her tear-streaked face. She sniffed, gazing interestedly at the Tuxedo Kamen puppet on my hand.
"My rose has begun to wilt." I wiggled my thumb, articulating the arm adorned with a silk rose. "Only the smile of a beautiful, young maiden can restore it."
Her wet eyes glimmered like rubies in the low light of the setting sun that streamed sideways through the sliding glass doors. She was enraptured.
"Please, won't you offer me a smile?"
Miniature hands wiped away the remains of her tears as she sniffed again.
"Okay," Chibi-Usa whispered to the puppet before offering it a dazzling, adorable smile that lifted her cheeks, still full with the roundness of childhood.
"Oh my, what a lovely smile you have. You must be a secret princess."
Her grin stretched further across her cheeks, now reaching her eyes, and a single dimple appeared on the left side. She embraced the puppet and my fingers returned the gesture. When she pulled away, I lifted the toy from my hand and handed it to the lonely child before wrapping her up in a hug of my own.
"Everything is going to be okay, Chibi-Usa. I promise." She snuggled deeper against my torso as I held her. "Try to get some sleep. For Tuxedo Kamen. Okay?"
Wide eyes turned up at me, probing deep into my own, searching desperately for the answers to questions she couldn't ask. My heart ached for the poor child. Alone and afraid, without her parents, confused. Those were emotions I was all too familiar with.
I sat on the edge of the bed, watching as her breathing eventually slowed to a steady rhythm, her chest rising and falling beneath the midnight blue sheet like ocean waves. Once she was asleep, I examined her cherub face.
Aside from my own heavy emotions, there was something else about the mysterious child that rang a bell of recognition in my mind. There was something about her regal visage, the pout of her lower lip even as she slept, the way her emotions surged from one extreme to the next in an all-consuming vortex, the stamp of her indignant little foot, and even the way she saw hope and goodness inside of even the most unlikely of people… She often reminded me of my own bunny. Not to mention the odangos.
Standing and stretching my legs, tired from carrying the girl on my back all afternoon, I relieved myself from the room, treading silently across the floor in socked feet. Closing the door behind me, I turned to the kitchen for a glass of water. My mind had been spinning tirelessly since the spirited little girl dropped out of the sky-literally-and into my arms. Whoever she was, I could not deny the unrelenting need to protect her. Much like it was with Usagi, some part of my being answered to Chibi-Usa's unspoken call and I was powerless to deny her.
I downed a second glass and sighed. Usagi. How jealous and angry she had been today. For several days, really. It had been mounting until it all exploded out of her today in an astonishing display of hurtful accusations. Usagi was always kind to everyone, even the evil foes we had faced together over the last year. She always chose to beseech that glimmer of goodness within them, entreating them to change, extending them an opportunity of friendship. But it was not so with her mini clone. I didn't know it was even possible for her to behave so cruelly.
"Hi."
Her voice, although timid, startled me as it sounded directly behind my back. I turned to find Usagi, sunken eyes cast to the floor, hands clasped in front of her waist. It was clear the events of today were still troubling her.
"Hi," I replied in turn.
"I'm sorry I yelled." Her gaze remained fixed on the tiny white socks that covered her feet.
"Things have been very stressful," I sympathized.
Her polka dotted skirt wrinkled beneath her clenched fingers.
"It seems like the only one you care about lately is Chibi-Usa."
This was a long time coming. "Usako-"
"Do you think she's cuter than me?" She lifted her face finally, the sky blue of her eyes threatening to rain beneath the sunshine of her fringe. Her hand exchanged its grip on her clothes for my own shirt. "It seems that you like Chibi-Usa more than me, Mamoru."
Had I still been drinking from my glass, I would have choked. Not only at her insinuation, but her use of my actual name.
"What? B-but she's an elementary school student," I stammered. "What are you saying?"
"But age has nothing to do with it!" she shouted, raising her voice in conjunction with her rising feeling. "I don't care how young she is! She's still a woman to you-right?"
She gasped and covered her mouth, as if reaching for the escaped words and vainly attempting to force them back in. I studied her wordlessly, my own sentiments swirling inside of me and battling for the foreground.
"I'm sorry." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she released both my shirt and my gaze. "I don't know what's come over me. You're right, she's just a little girl." She turned away from me. "I shouldn't even be thinking about anything like this, especially not when Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter are…"
And then some undeniable powerful came over me. I stared at the trembling princess before me, her lower lip trapped between her teeth in her anguish as the silent tears began to roll down her cheeks. Usako was hurting. And now she was walking away.
My arms encircled her and brought her close to my chest as the drive to protect her swelled within every cell of my body. She deserved to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel wanted. My heart pounded against the back of her neck.
"It's not true, Usako. I love you."
The fervor of my voice widened her eyes and she twisted in my embrace to see my face.
"Mamoru?"
I held her tight to me, our bodies completely flush as I pressed us together. Yet I was still longing for her. It was like we couldn't get close enough.
"Usagi, for a moment there you looked like you were going to disappear." I needed her here. With me. Always. What would I do if she walked out of that door and out of my life? I had been so completely blinded by my duty to protect Chibi-Usa that I hadn't been paying enough attention to the most important woman in my life. If Usagi doubted my feelings for her, it was my fault. "I didn't know you felt this unhappy."
I had to show her that I loved her more than anything in this world. She had to believe me. I would die if she didn't. How could I make her see that nothing could ever come between us?
She returned my embrace, her tiny fingers digging into the flesh of my back.
"Stay with me," she pleaded, hiding her face on my shoulder. "Don't ever leave my side."
I could never leave her. My own fingers stroked her golden tresses, drew comforting circles on her back, living in this moment with her, feeling her sorrow.
"I'll do everything I can to protect you, Mamoru."
The diminutive woman in my arms amazed me every day. It was I who was meant to protect her. It was I who had failed. It was I who was the cause of her pain. Yet she clung to me now, offering her heart in its most raw form, begging me to love her, to let her love me.
Pulling back enough to examine her face, I removed one of her hands from its latch round my shoulder and pressed my lips tenderly to her palm. An underlying current seemed to pass from her skin to mine.
"And I will do the same for you."
She then pressed her kissed palm to my cheek, angling my face back to the consuming power of her gaze. Her crystal eyes were like glass on fire, burning me from the inside out. And then she threw her arms around my neck and crushed her lips to mine in a passionate kiss.
Usagi and I had kissed many times. We had spent countless hours alone together on my sofa, kissing and petting in chaste teenage love. But never had it felt like this.
Beneath this kiss was something deeper. Desperation, fear, desire. A throbbing need to be united, to share an unadulterated love between the two of us in our private little corner of the universe.
Our kisses became urgent and Usagi gasped for breath against my lips. But to stop kissing her was agony. It was ice on the burning flesh of my skin and I wanted the heat. I needed to be consumed in her fire. My lips continued to move along her neck, down to the hollow above her collar bone. Her gentle moans set me alight again and, feeling emboldened, I dragged my hands from their place on her back down over her shoulders, paying tribute to her perfect breasts along the way, finally settling on her waist.
In the past, I had always been careful to conceal my arousal from Usagi. As I was her protector, the responsibility fell to me to preserve her virtue. Not that she believed I was immune to her, but it was more so about being the one to keep us both in check. To keep things from going too far. But as her fingers twisted and pulled in my hair and she breathed my name into my neck, a new sense of duty arose in me. A duty to please the goddess in my arms, to make sure she knew how desperately I needed her, to make her cry out my name in overwhelming pleasure.
And I was more than up for the task.
My hands drifted lower and gripped her rounded cheeks, lifting her from the floor and pressing her into me. She encouraged me, wrapping her legs around my hips and grinding deeper into my arousal. My lips returned to hers and she opened her mouth for me, inviting me to explore new paths. Every brush of her tongue against mine sent a new, shocking current tingling across my skin. It was passing through her, too, evidently by her increasing moans and the tightening of her grip in my hair.
It was going to happen. There was no question about it. I needed her and she needed me. But my bed was occupied. The couch seemed too far away. As gently as I could, I lowered her to the floor, her glorious golden waves spilling across the cool wood. I held myself over her as her delicate fingers stumbled their way to hastily undo the buttons of my shirt. They fumbled as they trembled. She was nervous. Understandably, so. Shifting my weight to one arm, I brought my other hand to her soft cheek, the skin flushing beneath my touch.
"I only want you, Usagi," I pledged with a kiss. "By my side, always." Her full lips smiled beneath my thumb as I traced them. "I want to protect you."
"Those were my thoughts exactly," she purred.
And then we collided.
Her hands roved over my torso, slipping beneath my sleeves and grasping my arms, feeling every muscle they could find. I matched her enthusiasm and explored the soft curves of her body. Her supple breasts were tight beneath my hands and her hips were already shaking. Those tantalizing fingers dipped lower along my abdomen, finding my belt and quickly unfastening it before tugging my pants and briefs down over my hips, releasing me. She gasped as her eyes took me in and then those same fingers wrapped themselves around me and I groaned. It was all I could do not to come undone before we even started.
Rolling onto my side, I slid one hand up along the length of her thigh, relishing in her quivers. I found the delicate lace of her panties and looped my thumb through the material, slowly removing them. All the while, her eyes were fixed on me, watching, asking for reassurance. I kept my gaze fixed with hers, holding her steady. She kicked her little feet and wiggled out her underwear, now bare beneath my fingers.
I had never touched her like this before, either. At just the slightest touch, she was bucking beneath me. I caressed her most intimate places, exploring every inch of her, delighting in her shivers. I had been the cause of her pain, and now I was the source of her pleasure. Kissing her neck, I continued my rhythm, stroking and teasing her with my fingertips. Her breath was coming in short gasps.
"Please, Mamo. I need…"
She didn't have to finish her sentence. Her body was speaking for her. I pushed her dress up to her stomach, drinking in her perfect, porcelain skin.
"Are you sure, Usako?" As much as I wanted to entirely give myself over to her, I couldn't bear it if I somehow took advantage of her. This had to be what she wanted. No regrets.
"Yes. I want to feel close to you."
Something else occurred to me. I had been too wrapped up to think about it before.
"I don't have… I mean, I wasn't expecting this so I don't have any-"
She quieted me with another sensual kiss.
"It's okay, Mamo. My mom put me on the pill after our first date." She took me into her hands again and I shuddered. "I want to feel you."
She was driving me absolutely mad and I wanted nothing more than to give her everything she was asking for.
Reluctantly, I tore myself away from the kisses she was planting along my neck to rest my forehead against hers.
"Please tell me if I hurt you, okay?" She nodded, our heads moving together. "Just say the word and I promise I'll stop."
I positioned myself over her, diligently tracking her face for any sign of hesitation. When I found none, finally, I eased inside her.
She was warm and tight and to be perfectly honest, I was struggling to keep it together and not let myself go at that very second. She cried out as soon as I slipped inside of her, her mouth agape and her eyes as wide as the moon.
"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"
She shook her head. "No." And then, almost a whimper, "Please, don't stop."
I was happy to serve my princess.
After a slightly awkward moment of figuring out what I was doing, I finally found a rhythm, rocking back and forth above her, sliding in and out as gently as I could. The feeling of being inside Usagi was otherworldly. Not only did it set every nerve in my body screaming, but the ache in my heart that I felt for her every moment was finally filled as we became one together. Her features relaxed and her eyes fluttered shut. Without stopping, I kissed each of her eyelids, one after the other.
"Look at me, Usako," I coaxed. "I want to watch you."
I found her hands and held them beneath mine against the floor. Her body rolled in time with mine and her eyes began to glaze as her moans came quicker. Seeing the pleasure written across her face only fueled my desire to please her even more.
"Mamo-chan," she gasped. "I… I…" A delicious flush spread across her cheeks and neck and I had to taste it.
"It's okay," I murmured against her blushing skin. "I'm here with you."
I increased my pace. An electric ripple passed over her body and her hips rose into me. I pulled away from her neck to watch her face, feeling myself grow even harder as her body shuddered around mine and she called out my name.
Her orgasm was long and I rode the wave with her, transfixed by the pleasure gleaming in her eyes. When her body finally stilled, I gave her a moment to catch her breath.
She graced me with her stunning smile. "Was that okay?"
A grin of my own crept along my lips. "More than okay." I kissed her lightly. "But I'm not finished yet."
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry."
A subtle laugh escaped me. "Don't be sorry, Usako. I wanted to make you feel good." I resumed my work. "And I want to do it again."
"Oh!"
Her pulse thrummed against my thumb as I moved my hand to lay on her chest. She was shaking with every thrust, her body still reeling from her orgasm. It became my purpose in life to see that look return to her face.
I went harder this time, faster, enjoying her squirming form beneath me as her increased sensitivity heightened every sensation I brought to her. I was going to lose it. Her eyes were rolling back beneath low lids.
I kissed her. Hard.
"Please, look at me," I whispered.
Enormous eyes snapped open and I fell over the edge, sinkly deeply into them. I buried myself deep inside of her. I never knew anything could ever feel like this.
When my own panting slowed, I collapsed, my head falling to her still-clothed breast. One petite hand held me in place while the other stroked lovingly over my hair. I was exhausted. That was more work than I had been expecting. And I hadn't been able to hold on as long as I was hoping. But I would do it all over and over again in a heartbeat. Anything to hear my name on her lips like that again.
"Was that okay?" I echoed her question, lips murmuring against her sternum, and placed a gentle kiss at the collar of her dress.
"More than okay." Her fingers traced the contours of my face, traveling along my eyebrow, my nose, my cheek. "And...did you...? I mean, was it good for you?"
I laughed. One short huff. "Yes. More than good. Except…"
Her fingers froze against my skin.
"Except what?"
With a little effort, I managed to get myself back up onto my arms above her. Her face was twisted with worry. I kissed the tip of her button nose.
"I'm just sorry I couldn't get you twice."